Crime and Punishment
by hrhgoldentrio3
Summary: How long does it take for a memory to be reborn? Eren Yeager views himself as a normal high school senior, until he's a suspect in a murder case. What's worse is that he's starting to doubt himself and his sanity as the facts and memories begin to add up. What really happened when his parents died? Who are Mikasa and Armin? It takes 9.
1. Procreation

Eren couldn't tell if he was in a dream or not. The edges of his vision were fuzzy, and certain objects in the background were blurry until he really looked at them. However, Eren knew something was off because he was in the park by his old house. The landmarks became more familiar as he realized he was back in Shiganshina.

The park was empty. Eren hadn't visited Shiganshina ever since his parents died, but the park brought back memories. He could vaguely remember playing with his two closest friends, Mikasa and Armin, right by the empty sandbox. He kicked at the damp clumps of sand, and crushed them under his foot. Remembering his two old friends made him uneasy for some reason. He hadn't thought of them for years for some reason.

The sound of a swing creaking made him turn his head sharply in that direction. He could have sworn the park was empty. There were two swings that Eren and his two friends used to swing on. Mikasa and Armin would take turns so they could both have the chance to swing with Eren. The swings were empty, but one was moving slowly back and forth. Eren started to hope that this was a dream. He could hear his senses heighten as his blood began to pump faster. He nervously peered at the rest of the park. There was no wind blowing the dead leaves, yet the swing was still moving.

There was a tiny puddle of water next to the slide. The puddle was there when Eren had entered the park, but the book lying in it was something new. Eren knew books didn't just appear out of nowhere, so someone must have entered the park. Just when Eren turned his back on the book, he heard a wet squeaking noise behind him. Eren barely breathed as he recognized the sound of someone climbing up the slide. When the squeaking noise stopped, he turned around suddenly and saw the book floating in the air. The book was lifted from the ground around nine feet directly vertical from the puddle. He was confused what was holding it up, but even more confused at why the book seemed so familiar. There were no strings, but there was a faint shimmer like frosty air by the book.

As the book began to fall, Eren instinctively began to cover his ears. He found himself questioning why he would need to cover his ears for a book falling.

The book landed in the puddle with a large splash. Eren cringed as the book made a thud that was disproportionate to the size of it. The sound of the thud reverberated in his ears, despite using his hands to cover his ears. Eren didn't realize his eyes were cringed shut until he opened them when he felt something brush past him.

Eren wasn't tall, but he could look down and see a blonde mop of hair. Only a child would be that short. Eren forced himself to move his feet backwards as the child focused in his dream. The blonde haircut and blue eyes told Eren at first glance that it was definitely Armin, but the look in the dark blue eyes told him to be wary. Eren had heard of the term cold eyes before, but never knew what they looked like. Armin had large blue eyes with abnormally large, dilated pupils. He was glaring blankly at Eren, and the glare burned through Eren's eyes just as the loud book had hurt his ears.

"You dropped your book, Eren," Armin whispered, holding out a soggy book for Eren to take. The book was plain and brown, but there were around nine bookmarks along the side. He could only make out a couple words on the faded cover, which were "Grisha", "experiment number", and "memory".

Armin had a voice that sounded like a sweet innocent child. He had a playful tone that he used as he started to tilt his head. "Come on Eren, you've never been so hesitant before," he said, louder.

Something flashed in Eren's mind and he gave out a strangled scream as he flung the book away with his hand. As soon as the book left Armin's hand, Armin vanished. Eren fell to the ground, shocked at his own violent reaction. "Why am I scared of a childhood friend?" he whispered to himself as he stood up. He began to brush the dirt off of his knees.

"You're getting yourself dirty, Eren," yet another voice whispered. Eren turned around as a coppery smell began to waft over him.

Mikasa stood by the trees that lined the edge of the park. She looked like she always did, with a faint pink dress and a red scarf around her neck. Her hair was long like when Eren had first met her at age nine, before she got a haircut to the scarf wouldn't get tangled in her hair. She had always had dark eyes, but with Eren they seemed to light up. Mikasa's smile was always so beautiful because she rarely showed it to anyone but Eren.

"Mikasa!" Eren said as he began to walk towards her. He began to laugh. "You always worry about me like a mother."

Immediately after he said "mother", Eren shuddered. Somehow the word felt like lead in his mouth and he felt sick to his stomach. He stopped walking as his senses told him something wasn't right. Or something didn't smell right.

As soon as he stopped approaching Mikasa, Mikasa began to approach him. Her silent steps didn't help Eren's growing sense of unease. The smell of copper became stronger.

"Why are you afraid of me, Eren?" Mikasa stated. Her smile and lit up face had disappeared back into the coldness she reserved for others besides Eren and Armin. Mikasa's face soon became blurry as Eren focused in on her scarf. From a distance he had thought that the red fringes seemed frayed, but his dream addled state saw that the fringes were not thread, but rather drops of blood dripping down. Mikasa's dress flashed between white and pink. The drops of blood dripped onto her white dress, but the drops were absorbed into her dress, turning it pink. Then the dress turned white again.

Eren was so mesmerized by the dress that he didn't realize Mikasa was opening her scarf. "It's all your fault," she coldly said. Underneath the scarf was a large slit in her throat. Horrified, Eren saw decaying, torn flesh that surrounded the fleshy pink lining of her trachea. The scarf had been covering the wound, so blood began to rush out, spraying Mikasa and Eren. As Eren turned to run away, the bloody scarf was wrapped around his mouth like a gag. He was pulled back by Mikasa, with the extreme strength she always had.

Eren's stomach turned as the coagulating blood hit his tongue. All perceptions of Mikasa being the same Mikasa he knew were shattered. Mikasa would never harm or damage Eren.

Coughing, Eren swung his elbow backwards, hoping to land on Mikasa. Before his elbow hit anything, the scarf around his mouth vanished. Eren didn't even bother to look back as he rushed towards the park exit.

As he rushed towards the exit, he slipped and fell. Groaning, he held his right arm and cradled it by his chest. He didn't know if he had fractured it during the fall, but his whole arm was burning. He felt like needles were poking his skin from the inside and outside.

His entire body was covered in blood, partly because of Mikasa's scarf, and partly because of the large puddle of blood he had slipped on. Eren's eyes widened as he realized that the small puddle of water near the slide was slowly turning red. The blood swirled in long tendrils. Eren's terrified eyes looked at the center of the puddle, where the blood was coming from.

Armin's blank eyes stared back at Eren's as Eren began to cry out in anguish. His entire body began shaking and his fingernails began to tear into his own skin as he scratched himself in despair. Armin's head was bent at an unnatural angle. His head was coming detached from his neck, and Eren saw the clean white of Armin's spine. Armin was holding the book with an extended hand, like he had reached out to touch it. The book's spine was beginning to tear off.

Eren sobbed in disbelief as he saw Armin's mouth begin to move. It was impossible, because Eren was sure that Armin had fallen from a deadly height. Armin's sweet voice turned bitter as his cut up mouth rasped out, "Murderer."

* * *

AN:

So, I haven't been updating my old stories in a while. However, this little plot bunny wouldn't leave my head. The good thing is that I have 9 chapters planned out, so this will be finished hopefully during April (when I have spring break to finish this up).

It's a little similar to Seeing in Red, because it's a murder mystery, but I was really inspired by Crime and Punishment along with various horror films.


	2. Shaping

September 2nd

Eren awoke with a start, coughing. He lifted his hand up to his face, and sighed in relief that there was no blood because it had only been a dream. It took him a couple seconds to bring his heartbeat back to normal. He swore he could still taste blood in his mouth from the extremely realistic dream, but realized his bitten tongue was the cause.

The plain white walls were familiar to him. It contrasted against all the red blood he had witnessed in his dream. Eren had always had terrible dreams, or nightmares, ever since his parents died. He hadn't had one for almost a year until last night. He wondered what triggered his dream. Nothing recently changed, except Hannes and Anna were leaving for an extended vacation tonight. It would be the first time they had left him alone for more than a week since they received guardianship over him.

Eren pulled back the covers and put his feet on the ground. He checked the clock by his bedside, which said 6:09. He normally got up an hour later, because Titan High was within walking distance. School had started the week before.

After using the bathroom, he yawned loudly as he climbed down the stairs. "Good morning, Anna," he said tiredly, rubbing his eyes. He sat down at the kitchen counter. Anna was toasting some bread in the relatively modest kitchen. Eren preferred sitting at the counter so he could chat with Anna, instead of going to the dining room.

Anna was a beautiful black haired woman who always had a smile. She was very young, only 32. She and Hannes had adopted Eren when Grisha and Carla had died. Hannes Meyer was a Garrison soldier who protected their city, Trost. It was a nice, stable job, and he had good hours so he was home for weekends and weekday evenings. He was an old friend of Grisha's in particular. Grisha had been a private doctor that practiced from the Yeager household. Hannes was a patient and Friday night drinking buddy of Grisha who met Anna while she was Grisha's emergency patient. She had been involved in a slave ring with the less savory side of Shiganshina, and claimed Grisha saved her life. After Hannes and Anna had married, Hannes was so grateful for Grisha saving her life and playing matchmaker that he took in Eren with open arms.

"You're up early," Anna remarked, before setting a plate of toast and strawberry jam in front of Eren.

Eren shrugged. "Something woke me up, I guess," he said. He slowly ate his food, but the jam disturbingly looked close to blood. He didn't want to mention the dream in front of her because he hated when she was worried. He disliked causing more trouble for the couple because they had to adopt him while he was nine and while they were in their early 20's. While neither had wanted to attend college, Eren knew they had missed many opportunities by taking care of him.

"So, are you guys all packed up for tonight?" he asked.

Hannes was recently awarded a promotion and extended vacation for his long, nine years of service. Hannes had been transferred from Shiganshina to Trost when Eren was adopted, and decided it was a good idea to take Eren away from all the bad memories. The Meyers were vacationing out in the relaxing countryside. In a way, Eren supposed it would be nice for them to take a break from raising Eren. Even though the Meyers were kind people, they were only 14 years older than him and deserved to enjoy their youth.

"Yep, and we'll be leaving the house at around 6 so you can heat up some leftovers for dinner. Don't forget to budget out the money I gave you for meals. I don't want you to spend it all on video games or something," she laughed.

Eren pretended to be hurt by gasping in mock indignation. "You have such low expectations of me, Anna! If anything, I'd spend it going out with Jean and the gang." Anna giggled back, smiling fondly at the mention of Eren's friends.

Eren disliked many video games because of the violence. While his parents' murders were pushed out of his mind, he still felt uneasy over virtual and electronic deaths. Instead, he spent more time outside the house with Jean, Marco, Connie, and Sasha. Sometimes Annie, Bertholt, and Reiner would join in. They were all seniors with him at Titan High. They had met sometime during middle school and helped bring Eren out of his shell.

After thanking Anna for breakfast, Eren decided to get ready and head over to Jean's house early. Jean lived down the block and they walked to school together. They would meet up with Marco and the rest at the school gates.

Eren left the house trying to forget the dream from last night. Maybe he had unintentionally watched a weird video clip or read something that spooked him out. Before even thinking about Mikasa and Armin, Eren focused on waking up his sometimes friend, sometimes enemy up.

Jean's mother had let in him, despite how early he was. Eren was a good influence for Jean, whether he liked it or not, and Jean's mother appreciated that. While Jean and Eren may argue over the biggest or littlest things, they were more alike than they would like to think.

"Hey horse-face, you're going to be late soon," Eren practically shouted in Jean's ear. Like most mornings when Jean had overslept and Eren decided to be a nice friend and let him know, Jean comically fell out of bed and clutched his heart like he was having a heart attack.

"This never gets old for you, does it?" Jean muttered as Eren fell to the ground, laughing. He shooed Eren away so he could get ready, or "primp" as Eren called it.

"Don't bother fixing that two-tone hair of yours, it's never going to look easier on the eyes. Or for the ladies," he called out to Jean, who was in the bathroom.

Still chuckling, Eren sat on Jean's bed and flipped through some random books from the floor. He could tell these were books Marco was trying to convince Jean to read; he was pretty sure Jean had no interest in "European History during the 16th Century" unless he just liked the horse on the cover. Marco was the smartest kid in their group, and it was always a mystery why he bothered to hang out with them. Eren suspected Marco was just too attached to Jean. They had been each other's only friends until Eren came along. After that, Connie, Sasha, and Annie's group followed. If Marco lived where Eren did, Eren knew Marco and Jean would be inseparable and Eren would have never become friends with them. Eren never worried about infringing upon Jean and Marco's close friendship because time and time again had proven how much they all valued each other.

Eren picked up the next book in the pile and recoiled in shock. Jean was an avid horror fan, much to Eren's dismay. Eren had glossed over the details of his parents' deaths, and did not tell his friends that he had been the ones to find the bodies. For all they knew, they had passed away in a car accident. Whenever Jean enthusiastically tried to convince Eren to join the also terrified Marco in a horror movie marathon, Eren mumbled some excuse.

The horror book had a girl with long brown hair holding a dangling, ragged doll in one hand. While that wasn't scary for Eren, the look in her eyes brought back memories of the dream. Her eyes were so cold and unfeeling.

"What happened?" Jean suddenly asked. Eren almost jumped off the bed, but instead shoved the book back into the pile. He nervously smiled back at Jean and tried to think of a good excuse.

"Nothing, just finally thought I had found your secret horse stash."

"Why do you and Connie have some conspiracy that I'm part horse? Or that I'm a horse fanatic?"

"Nah, it's a looong story. You'll neigh-ver find out."

"Ha, ha. Why did my mom ever let you into the house?"

* * *

Eren had met Jean in Trost Middle School by, unsurprisingly, starting a fight with him. Eren had moved from Shiganshina to Trost in elementary school, but he made no friends. Eren couldn't really remember much of those years until he met Jean. Hannes and Anna had been worried about Eren and thought that his parents' deaths had affected him more than they had previously thought. Jean brought back some of his stubbornness and spirit when Marco had convinced Jean to act friendly towards the poor loner Eren. Eventually, Jean and Eren reached a mutual understanding and a long and unhealthy friendship started.

Jean and Eren chatted as they walked towards Titan High. It was a ten-minute walk, and they mostly talked about the new school year. They had some classes together, along with Connie, Sasha, Annie, and the rest, except Marco. Marco was in a lot more advanced classes, and Jean was happy and upset at the same time. He was rambling on about how he was afraid Marco would struggle, but Eren knew he was just upset because Marco would be probably head to an excellent college while Jean might have to stay in Trost.

"Look, Jean. I can tell you're just really upset because Marco is leaving you behind, but can't you be happy for him? If he's really smart, you need to understand that he will have better opportunities that you will not take. Besides, you'll still have us in Trost, I think," Eren explained.

For some reason, Marco and his intelligence reminded him of someone from long ago. He was pretty sure he had heard this same argument before as well. Eren felt unsettled, and drew Jean's attention to a different subject.

* * *

Connie and Eren had met on the middle school playground. Both of them were very rambunctious and rowdy, something Eren missed with Jean and Marco because Marco preferred to sit and read or just talk during recess. Connie then introduced Eren to Sasha, and they became instant friends when Eren offered his leftover snack to her.

In front of the school gate, Jean and Eren met up with the rest of their friend group.

"So, did you finish Mrs. Robinson's assignment last night?" Connie asked calmly, trying to act like he didn't care, even though he should because it was already the 2nd week of school and he was slacking off. Eren knew Connie never did homework, so he just sighed and handed him his worksheet. Connie whooped in happiness while Sasha sprayed her breakfast crumbs as she thanked Eren as well. It was a good thing that Marco was busy talking to Jean, because Marco never condoned cheating.

"I switched shifts with Annie this week," Reiner told Eren as they approached the school entrance. "Annie is doubling her martial arts training for her competition this weekend."

Eren made sure he wished Annie good luck before they all walked towards homeroom. Eren had met Annie in sophomore year through the café they both worked at around Titan High's corner. He wanted to contribute to the little daily expenses that the trust fund that Grisha left for him couldn't cover for the Meyer family. Eren wanted to make sure the money left in the Yeager's bigger account would be able to cover college expenses so the Meyers wouldn't have too much of a burden. He had gotten a job at Corner Café owned by an older lady named Anya, where Annie, Bertholt, and Reiner worked. He had started as washer and cleanup boy, but worked his way up to barista and could accomplish some mildly impressive latte art recently.

At the end of the seemingly long and boring school day, Eren walked with Reiner and Bertholt to the Corner Café. Bertholt manned the cashier and pastries while Eren made the drinks. Reiner and Annie usually helped with food prep. Eren had laughed about Reiner making tiny little pastries until he saw Reiner pounding dough with large amounts of force to later refrigerate and bake the next morning. Annie had a good eye and lots of patience to decorate. Bertholt had originally made drinks, since he was nervous at the cash register, but Eren had surpassed him in drink making efficiency. Reiner had remarked that Bertholt's normally nervous manner seemed to have improved just by talking to more customers than he used to.

Eren left his normally 4 hour shift an hour early so he could say goodbye to Hannes and Anna. He walked home, noticing Hannes packing their bags in the car. Eren rarely drove anywhere, so he didn't mind the car being used for the vacation.

"Hey Hannes," Eren greeted as he helped Hannes lift the last large bag into the trunk.

"Hey kiddo. So, you're sure that you'll be okay by yourself for a month? I'm pretty sure you could crash a couple weekends at Jean's house," Hannes asked.

Eren shook his head, not willing to sleepover at Jean's house because he knew they would just constantly argue. "I'm already 18, so I'll need to get used to living on my own anyways, right?" he said unsurely. Eren really didn't know how he would deal with a month alone in an empty house unless he could distract himself by hanging out with his friends.

Hannes patted Eren on the back. "Thanks for being so understanding though. This vacation's the perfect excuse for you to relax and me to explore the countryside. Make sure you keep up with school, or Anna will have my head," Hannes said, laughing.

They both walked inside and saw Anna checking the house for anything they forgot. Hannes figured Anna would take a long time so he sat down with Eren on the couch. They were supposed to leave at 6, since Hannes still had his last shift that ended at 5. The countryside inn they were staying at was no more than 1-2 hours away, and the sun was still out for a while as summer began to transition into fall.

As Hannes went over a last minute checklist of things Eren had to do, including chores, Eren cleared his throat.

"So this might be a weird question out of the blue, but…I was wondering a little bit about something from my childhood," Eren asked cautiously. He noticed Hannes tensing, and Anna entered the living room and paused at the doorway. Hannes gave a nod to Eren to continue.

"I know you visited me and my family a lot when I was younger, but did you ever remember any friends that I had? Kids called Mikasa or Armin?" Eren said, finally.

Hannes drew in a shaky breath. "Sorry kid, but I don't think this is the best time. Maybe you should wait until we get back and then we'll have a nice long chat. It's a very long story and we have to go soon…"

"So you're just going to put this off? Leave for your vacation without me while I sit here and wonder about something that I've been curious about for a long time?" Eren said, his voice starting to rise. He knew his stubbornness was starting to get ahold of him. For the past couple weeks Eren had tried to be happy for their vacation because they deserved a break, but he couldn't help be scared and worried about being left on his own. Something within Eren felt utterly helpless, but he had always hid his weaknesses by covering it up with anger.

He wasn't bitter at the Meyers for not taking him with them, because it was illogical for him to leave school. But it has always been his dream to travel the world and explore, something someone had encouraged. Eren creased his brow in confusion. Who was it that helped him realize that?

"Eren, it's not like that at all," Anna said, finally joining them on the couch. "There are just some things that we're afraid of talking to you about because they may be…troubling, or uncomfortable for you."

Eren half listened to Anna trying to reassure him. He was focused on remember something he had long forgotten. Why would they be afraid? Had he done something, or had something been done to him? His thoughts swirled through his head and he began to feel dizzy.

"But whose fault is that?" he began to whisper. "Whose fault was it?"

"Fault? It's not anybody's fault that we're going on vacation Eren…" Anna tried to reason.

"NO!" Eren began to scream. His hands were clenched so hard that his nails broke his skin. Red drops of blood began to drip down. "That's not what I meant…it's not what I'm trying to understand. Don't you see?" he said, while holding out his hands for Hannes and Anna.

It was the red that had haunted his dreams, the same red that Eren remembered from his life in Shiganshina. Why was red so familiar to him? Eren began to clutch his head as he tried to remember. The blood from his hands began to run down his head.

Hannes and Anna cautiously put their hands on Eren, trying to pry his hands apart. Anna was whispering comforting words to Eren as she tried to calm him down. Perhaps Eren had been holding in his parents' death in him too long, they thought.

Reluctant tears came from Eren's clenched eyes. He hated crying. It was something that the school bullies used against him; it was a sign of weakness. Mikasa never cried, she never shed tears, and she never showed emotion to anyone but Eren and Armin.

It became harder and harder for Eren to breath. Everything came rushing down upon him as he began to hyperventilate. When he opened his eyes slowly, he could see his vision darkening.

He felt soft hair brush past him, but he could vaguely tell it wasn't Anna's texture. "Black hair…" Eren whispered.

"Mikasa?"

* * *

Something was shaking him as he saw his vision return.

"Mikasa?" Eren asked. He looked around. It was an enormous and seemingly endless white room. The only thing he could see was Armin next to him. Armin looked the same as he had in the beginning of Eren's dream from last night. He looked like a young child.

"Look closer," Armin urged Eren. "Mikasa's here. I'm here. We've been waiting."

"Waiting…for me? But why? I haven't thought of you guys in a long time," Eren coughed out. His throat seemed so dry. Had he been yelling before?

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw a dark figure. As he turned, he saw Mikasa in the farthest corner of the room. She was wearing the same pink dress and red scarf as always. She was walking towards Eren, but her face was unreadable.

"Mikasa? Armin, what's going on?" Eren said worriedly. Armin sighed, and held out his hand. In his palm was a golden key.

"Take it, Eren. You know what it is."

Eren shook his head. "I don't know what the key is for. Is it a car key? A house key?" He took it into his hand as he examined it.

"Thank you Eren," he heard from behind him. As he turned around, the key in his hand suddenly felt slick and wet. With a shriek, he threw the now bloody key onto the ground.

"Mikasa? Why are you thanking me?" Eren questioned, as his eyes took in the sight. Mikasa no longer had her red scarf, but had a heavy chain draped around her neck.

"You freed me," she stated. She gave Eren one of her special smiles, but the smile was ruined by her teeth that were stained red with blood. There was a sound like a gunshot, and Eren cringed and covered his ears. When he looked back up, Mikasa's chain was broken and she wrapped her red scarf around her neck to cover the imprints the chains left behind.

"Thank you, Eren."


End file.
